Adult-FanFiction.org : Bleach

A Test of Faith	By : honeyMellon Category: Bleach > Yaoi - Male/Male > Renji/Shuuhei Views: 1155 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: No underaged beings, humans or otherwise, are involved in this work of fiction. Bleach and all its characters belong to Kubo Tite, I just "expand" them for fun. I do not make any profit from these work of fiction.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
And here's the next chapter! Reviews, comments, questions, all are welcome!

Chapter 3

"He's going to be okay now, don't worry, Hisagi-fukutaicho," the young 4th division medic reassured the frantic-looking man in front of her.
Shuuhei's face was still pale with worry, and he didn't bother wiping away the trickle of blood-laced sweat that was slowly making its way down the side of his face. The vice captain's spiky short hair was unusually messy and, in some parts, matted with blood. The back of his shihakusho was torn in several places, revealing scratched and bruised skin.
The training exercise should have been easy. He was to take a small group of ten new recruits from his division to the forest just outside of Seireitei for a mock battle. He had split the recruits into two teams, assigning one as the "enemy", and each team was supposed to form a strategy in order to defeat the other team. That part had gone on smoothly enough, but halfway through the fight, a tree at the clearing where they were training suddenly collapsed. Shuuhei had just a split second to react. He managed to flash-step over to the team members who were directly in the path of danger and carried three of them to safety. But three people were a lot for him to carry, and one of the recruits slipped out of his hands. Blindly pushing the other two away from him, he lunged back to grab the one who fell. Not having enough time to pull the young man completely out of harm's way, he had simply thrown himself on top of the boy and taken the impact.
The boy was unconscious when Shuuhei finally extracted him from the debris. There was a gash on his head, and some scratches on his face, but he seemed fine otherwise. Shuuhei immediately dismissed the exercise and rushed the boy to the 4th division.
"You should get your injuries tended to," a soft, motherly voice rang from behind Shuuhei, causing him to turn around in surprise. Unohana-taicho did not give him time to protest and simply led him off to another room to be treated.
When Shuuhei finally emerged from the infirmary, he had fresh bandages around his head, hand, and chest. He felt foolish with all these bandages as he felt that his injuries were minor, but he didn't dare question the 4th division captain. He was too tired to complain anyway. It was almost midnight, he was exhausted, and the dull throbbing in his head reminded him that he had a slight concussion.
For once he didn't bother showering before going to bed; he was already asleep by the time his head hit the pillow.

"Woah! What happened to you?" Kira's eyes went wide when he took in the sight of his best friend the next day. He had swung by the 9th division to hand in his report for the monthly Seireitei magazine, and was shocked to see the bandages on Shuuhei.
Shuuhei gave a slight winced as he smiled. "It's no big deal," he said, giving the report a quick glance. It looked okay, so he happily put it on top of a small pile of similar reports from other divisions.
"Does Abarai-san know about this?" Kira asked, narrowing his eyes. He knew that his best friend had the bad habit of playing down his illness or injuries, which he did out of good intentions, but often had the complete opposite effect on people.
"I don't want him to worry," Shuuhei replied, just as Kira had expected. As he said so, he felt something tug at the back of his mind. Renji...Renji...there was something about Renji that he was supposed to do. What was it? His brow furrowed as he tried to remember, but for the life of him he just couldn't recall.
"Are you in pain?" Kira asked in concern when he saw Shuuhei's expression.
Shuuhei shook his head and smiled sheepishly. "No, no," he said, "Just...was trying to remember something."
Kira looked at the dark-haired vice captain. He pondered for a while, then decided that now was as good a time as any to bring up the topic he had been wanting to mention to Shuuhei.
"When was the last time you saw Abarai-san?" he asked, trying to sound casual.
Shuuhei looked up in surprise. "Two days ago, at the vice captains' meeting. Why?"
Kira sighed. "I didn't mean that kind of see."
"Oh." Shuuhei felt a little guilty as he answered, "About three weeks ago. We haven't really had time to, you know, hang out or anything. You know how crazy things are around here."
"Well, he seemed...a little down during dinner last night," Kira said, treading carefully. He didn't want to sound like he was preaching; in fact he didn't like to interfere in other people's business, but from past experience he knew that Shuuhei needed a little probing when it came to such matters.
Shuuhei felt another pang of guilt. Once again the feeling that he was forgetting something crossed his mind. "Did he say why?" he asked, temporarily shoving the odd feeling aside.
Kira shrugged. "I didn't want to pry." You should know better than anyone else.
Shuuhei sighed. He could guess what was bothering Renji, and he felt really bad about it because it was his fault. The redhead had been grumbling about not having enough time to see each other, but Shuuhei hadn't done anything to change that. He knew he should, but he just hadn't found the time or heart to act on it. In fact, he had already listed out things that he could delegate to his 3rd seat, but he was finding it hard to part with those responsibilities.
Since Tousen-taicho left, Shuuhei felt the need to make up for the actions of their traitorous captain. As the vice captain, he blamed himself for not noticing the signs, for not stopping Tousen in time. And for that, he punished himself by taking on as much work as he could, almost like an act of apology to the members of his division.
"You need to take a break sometimes," Kira said gently. "I understand how you feel, but you need to stop blaming yourself."
Shuuhei opened his mouth to retort, then realized that Kira was right. Of course Kira would understand, he was as much a victim of the whole incident as Shuuhei was. "Yeah," he said, his shoulders sagging. Then he perked up. "Well, I can take a break tonight, since your report was the last one to arrive," he said with a mock glare at his blonde friend, who blushed at the jab.
"Well, you did say it's due at the end of the month," Kira mumbled.
Shuuhei chuckled. Some people just had to wait until the last day...wait, he suddenly paused. End of the month.
"What's the matter?" Kira asked, noticing Shuuhei's odd expression.
"Today is...the last day of..." Shuuhei said slowly, as if he wasn't sure of what he was trying to say.
Kira frowned in confusion. "Yes, today's the last day of August. Why?"
A sudden bolt of realization lanced through Shuuhei's mind. Of course! August 31st! Renji's birthday! At the thought, he jumped out of his seat so abruptly that he knocked over his chair in the process. Kira backed away from the desk in surprise.
"Wha—" Kira didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as Shuuhei pushed past him and rushed out of his office without bothering to respond. Kira was left standing there alone, dazed and puzzled.

"I'm sorry, but Abarai-fukutaicho just left a few minutes ago," Kuchiki Byakuya said cooly while eyeing the slightly disheveled vice captain in front of him. His face showed no indication that he thought that Shuuhei's appearance was out of the ordinary.
Shuuhei's heart thumped erratically in his chest from the sudden exertion of flash-stepping from his division to the 6th. "I see," he said, feeling disappointed and guilty. "Thank you, Kuchiki-taicho."
Byakuya raised an eyebrow. After a brief moment of silence, he asked, much to Shuuhei's surprise, "Is there a message you'd like me to pass to him, Hisagi-fukutaicho?"
For a moment Shuuhei was taken aback by the unexpected question, then he recovered and replied, "Yes please. Please...umm, please tell him that I'm looking for him."
The captain looked at him and nodded. "I will."
An awkward silence followed. Byakuya continued to gaze at Shuuhei with a serene expression, and Shuuhei wondered what was going on in the man's mind. He had always wondered, and always will, what Byakuya thinks when the captain sees him. Byakuya had said that he never had any intention to pursue his feelings for Renji, but Shuuhei felt that it must be odd for Byakuya to face the person who was with the redhead, especially when that person knew what Byakuya felt for Renji.
Not having anything else to say, Shuuhei gave a deep bow and left. His heart felt heavy and, to be frank, he felt a little frantic. How could he have forgotten Renji's birthday! He had promised Renji that they would celebrate their birthdays yesterday, and it had completely slipped his mind. Granted, he was distracted by the accident from the training session, but he couldn't deny that he had actually completely forgotten about it.
He wasn't afraid that Renji would be angry at him. Knowing the man, he was more likely to be disappointed and hurt than feel angry. The redhead may look like a bad-tempered person with his crimson mane and wild tattoos, but the truth is, he was only fierce towards enemies. With friends, he was an easygoing, cheerful man. He may get a little impatient and tactless sometimes, but he rarely loses his temper with people he's close with.
And it was exactly that knowledge that made Shuuhei's heart heavy. He remembered how excited and—surprisingly, shy—Renji had looked when he first brought up the idea of celebrating their birthdays together. The redhead looked like he would melt in embarrassment at the first sign of laughter from Shuuhei, which Shuuhei found extremely endearing. Birthdays didn't mean much to Shuuhei personally, but he was touched that Renji wanted to share this with him. He could remember, clear as day, how Renji's face had lit up when he promised to celebrate it on Renji's birthday. Shuuhei's heart tightened in his chest at the memory. He pictured that same face and imagined what it had looked like last night, when Renji figured out that Shuuhei wasn't going to show up.

To be continued...
NOTE:

If you haven't already, check out my other story, "Pride", if you're interested in what happened between Byakuya and Renji.
- 2
- 3
- 4
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

A Test of Faith